Stay for wire fences



(No Model.)

S. P. DUNCAN. STAY FOR WIRE FENCES.

No. 451,033. PatentedApr. 28,1891.

- frwenfor SYLVESTER F. DUNCAN, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

STAY FOR WIRE FENCES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 451,033, dated April.28, 1891. Application filed June l 1888- Serial No. 278,090. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern/.-

Be it known that I, SYLvEs'rER F. DUNCAN, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, and a citizen of the United States, haveinvented certain new, useful, and Improved Stays for Wire Fences, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figures 1 and 2 represent sections of a wire fence in which the stays are of a less length than the width of the space between the fence wires or runners. Figs. 3 and 4 are perspective views showing the upper ends of stays with their attaching-hooks clinched in place.

' Figs. 5 and 6 are front and side views of attaohing-hooks.

The object of this invention is to strengthen wire-fence structures, to maintain the parallelism of the wires or runners, to make the presence of the fence more apparent to the vision of live stock, to provide a swing-joint between each end of the stay and the adjacent fence-wire, so as to diminish the effect of shock and render the stay somewhat elastic, and to furnish fence-stays as an article of manufacture that can be easily and quickly applied to a standing fence or to one in the process of manufacture.

To this end the invention consists in a wirefence stay comprising a metal strip of .less length than the width of the space between the fence wires or runners and provided with double ended reverselycurved attachinghooks engaged in perforations at the ends of the stay, each of said hooks being of such shape that when hung or placed upon the wire of a fence it can close instantly upon the fence-runner by the aid of a properly-constructed tool or appliance, and when so closed retain its position and not shift along the fence-wires, thus making it unnecessary to lap or fold the ends of the metal strip or stay above the fence-runner, and so save time and cost to the person applying the fence-stay.

In the drawings, a indicates a fence wire or runner, which may be of a round or flat fornn Z) are stays.

c are the attaching-hooks.

The stays b are made of sheet metal, plain, as shown, or ribbed along their length, if desired. In this form,if desired, the stays may be rigid or strong and without the flexibility shown in my former patents, Nos. 356,711 and 374,461.

The double-ended hooks 0 may be of round,- fiat, or rectangular wire or of strips of whitemetal in the form indicated at o. In the form indicated in Figs 1, 3, and 5 they are double hooks, one end of which may be fastened to the strip by passing through a hole made therein for that purpose and the other end formed for attachment to the fence-wire, so that it will pass over and hook thereon and can be clinched in place by the slight movement of a properly-constructed pair of pliers or other suitable appliance.

In the form shown in Figs. 2 and at the hooks are single, and in both of these forms the hooks are properly secured to the stays and go with them as a part thereof when they are placed upon the market.

It will be observed that the attaching-hooks c are reversely curved at their opposite ends, or approximately S-shaped, so that they will readily clamp the runners a and stays b, and thereby more effectively stiffen the stays and prevent them from slipping.

By this manner of constructing the stays and their end attachments the stays can be applied and clinched to a fence already formed easily and rapidly; or, if desired, when the fence is made in sections these stays may be applied during the process of constructing such sections. It will be observed, also, that as the fiat metal stays I) are of less length than the width of the space between the fence wires or runners and are not rigidly attached thereto, but are connected with said runners by hooks that serve as swing-joints, the stays are better enabled to withstand shock, while the end of the stay and the outer end of said IO 1 the hooks 0, being firmly clinched around the runners, are eflteetually prevented from slidhook tightly clamped around the fence wire What I claim as new, and desire to secure from slipping on the runners, substantially 5 by Letters Patent, is as follows: as shown and described.

The combination, With the fence Wires or SYLVESTER F. DUNCAN. runners a and the stays b, of the do able-ended I Witnesses: reversely-ourved attaehing-hooksc, each hook HARRY T. JONES,

ing thereon. or runner, whereby the stays are prevented having one end engaged in a perforation in l ROBERT A. MILLAR. 

